Today, LifeSiteNews published an interview with Professor Claudio Pierantoni, one of the signatories of the recent “Filial Correction” of Pope Francis with regard to Amoris Laetitia. Professor Pierantoni is an Italian scholar who now lives and teaches in Chile. He has just recently published a lucid and excellent defense of Professor Josef Seifert – whose archbishop dismissed him because of his polite criticism of Amoris Laetitia – in which he calls the treatment of Professor Seifert to be a “persecution of orthodoxy.”

In this new interview – and when speaking about the history of the filial correction – Professor Pierantoni reveals that Cardinal Burke even seems to be pleased with the Filial Correction as it was first published on 24 September:

The formal correction, as you remember, was already promised for January. But in April, when we had the Rome conference, there still was no hint that Cardinal Burke was going to issue a correction. So, in a little group, we started to think about a lay correction. Then, in July, when our correction was taking its final shape and had gained a certain number of signatures, we heard with great pleasure that Cardinal Burke was again thinking of a correction on his part. […]

I think that now Cardinal Burke must proceed to issue his long promised correction. If I were him, I would call it a “fraternal correction” (better than “formal”). He has in fact given us hints that he approves of our “filial” initiative and feels supported by it, and so I’m sure he now knows that very soon is his time to act. Perhaps two or three more cardinals, or half a dozen bishops, will join. Maybe more, maybe less. But even if he were the only one, I think he must soon issue a correction. [emphasis added]

Professor Pierantoni also highlights that there are many more supporters of the filial correction than the current signatories, but that they have held back their names due to outside pressures and due to fear. He also recounts how already some of the 45 theologicans and scholars who had earlier issued a critique of the papal document Amoris Laetitia have been pressured into silence. He says, as follows:

I have heard from many people in Catholic institutions (here in Santiago and elsewhere) who have been directly threatened with this [to suffer reprisal for their public criticism of Amoris Laetitia], and therefore they didn’t sign. For example, I have heard from some people who signed the document of the 45 and they were told not to sign anything else or they would lose their position. Of course, one is more at risk depending on the kind of institution. I have heard of people being threatened, not directly from Rome but by the local institution, sometimes striving to be “more Roman than the Pope.” […]

I sent it [the filial correction] to 10 people, for example, and 7 out of 10 told me they didn’t want to sign it out of fear of reprisals. A few did not think they were prepared to make a direct correction of the pope, although they agreed on the content. I can tell you that many, many people basically agreed on the content, many more than those who signed. [emphasis added]

This piercing report from Professor Pierantoni is being confirmed by a similar report as it was published today by Cardinal Gerhard Müller who said in an interview with Edward Pentin:

I heard it from some houses here [in Rome], that people working in the Curia are living in great fear: If they say one small or harmless critical word, some spies will pass the comments directly to the Holy Father, and the falsely accused people don’t have any chance to defend themselves. […] It’s the same in some theological faculties — if anybody has any remarks or questions about Amoris Laetitia, they will be expelled, and so on.

Dr. Maike Hickson, born and raised in Germany, studied History and French Literature at the University of Hannover and lived for several years in Switzerland where she wrote her doctoral dissertation. She is married to Dr. Robert Hickson, and they have been blessed with two beautiful children. She is a happy housewife who likes to write articles when time permits.

Her articles have appeared in American and European journals such as Catholicism.org, LifeSiteNews, The Wanderer, Culture Wars, Catholic Family News, Christian Order, Apropos, and Zeit-Fragen.